Jake and the Elephant

We went to Circus World this weekend, which is sort of a living museum for the old summer camp of the Ringling Bros./Barnum & Bailey Circus. They have exhibits and a lot of the old buildings and equipment, but they also do shows and have fun stuff for kids.

Jake was VERY excited because he got to ride an elephant! I was sort of torn, because I'm actually against using animals in circuses, but he was so excited by the idea that we had to do it. Poppy was going to, but he couldn't because he hurt his leg working out the other day. I thought Poppy was being a wimp until I got on -- elephants are very uncomfortable! It was like riding a 6-foot-wide broomstick.

Jake fit perfectly, of course, and thought being up so high was cool. The elephant, Tomba, put its trunk back to smell us when we got on. I told Jake it's a good thing he hadn't eaten any peanuts or the elephant might have thought he was lunch! Jake laughed.

There was one other very exciting thing about the elephant experience...Tomba pooped! Yes, Jake saw real, live elephant poop.

J: "Mommy, he poop!"
M: "Yes, Jake."
J: "Why?"
M: "Well, it's like your book...'Everyone Poops'."
J: "He poop in the yard!"
M: "She's an elephant, she's allowed."
J: "He poop a LOT!"
M: "Yes, elephants poop at lot, they're big."
J: "Wow, he POOP!"

Jake was also impressed that Tomba was a movie star and has been in movies. In fact, when retelling the story, he says, "I ride an elephant. She a movie star!"

Jake liked the camels, too, but not when one tried to eat his hair. Yuck! He wasn't at all interested in the ponies.

We also saw these really cool and talened Chinese acrobats. Jake was enthralled by their tricks and feats, especially the younger kids they had in the show. I think he was planning on trying some tricks himself...